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Alabama's is a story, believes author Virginia V. Hamilton, that bears scrutiny by Alabamians and outsiders alike if they would understand the present.

Pause for a moment before a gallery of fading portraits, and you will sense the beginnings of Alabama's troubled history--homespun pioneers gripped by "Alabama fever," chained and manacled black people quietly awaiting a slave trader's order to move on, newly rich planters and iron barons holding tightly to the reins of power. You will also be caught in the tangled web of the South's past.

"Dancing with the Devil in the City of God"A deeply reported and beautifully written biography of the seductive and chaotic city of Rio de Janeiro, from prizewinning journalist Juliana Barbassa. Learn more

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

I loved this book and I can't let that one star review go by unchallenged. I came up through the Alabama public school system and graduated from the University of Alabama, so I took required Alabama history four times. Not all of it was fascinating. I thought this little book was riveting reading. Virginia Van Der Veer Hamilton wrote a concise history of our state. Any student of Alabama history will not stop with this book, but it is a good starting point. I recommend that serious students go on to read Dr. Wayne Flynt's excellent Alabama histories.